Wichita eagle., 1887-08-10

underpaid labor, one In particular who was
engaged on pattern requiring six months
Of the most tedious and painstaking work
to complete single yard, for which her
employers would get five hundred francs
or one hundred dollars, she herself earning
about forty five cents per diem. Of course
the gentlemen of the party when solicited
to buy, pleaded the old chestnut of having
left their purses at home on the piano, but
the ladies, realizing the importance finan-
cially speaking, of buying at headquarters,
and knowing good thing when they saw
it, had every saleswomen in the house who
could speak any English at all busily en-
gagged displaying their wares, and if that
house was not reduced to penury and want,
it was not the fault of our American wo-
men, who for the whole balance OF the
day were in extacies over little parcels
that you could carry in your watch pocket,
the equivelant of which, in greenbacks,
would make double the bulk. You
can form some conception of
the magnitude and importance
of the lace industry of Brussels, if you
credit the statement, that no less than one
hundred and thirty thousand women gain
livelihood by the use of the bobbin. l
shall have little'to say of the churches OF
this fine city having visited only the
cathedral of st. Gudule which was found
ed in the eleventh century and contains
handsome pulpit carved in wood, made
in 1899 Representing the expulsion from
Paradise, also some fine tapestries and
beautiful stained windows. About all the
churches here are Roman Catholic. We
were well repaid for our time In visit to
the Wiertz Museum which contains nothing
but the works of this excentric genius who
died in 1865 and left the entire labor OF
life time, few portraits excepted, to the
government on condition that they should
be preserved in the museum and ex
hibited free of charge. l doubt
If there are many Americans
familiar with the name and productions OF
Wiertz, but after viewing miles and miles
of paintings executed by almost every
artist known to fame, l confess my ig
norance up to this time of the existence OF
these works, about one hundred in number,
and my perfect delight at the surprise to
me which was here revealed. The history
of WiertZ is as strange as some OF his
paintings At three years of age he devil
oped wonderful talent for drawing and
wood carving, and when only fourteen
there was no master in Belgium competent
to instruct him. He made wood cuts OF
his own drawings and printed from them
and his musical talent was something sur
prising. But the great aim and object OF
his life was to surpass Rubens. 1t is
question in the minds of many con-
noisseurs if he did not equal him in hi:
masterpiece which hangs in this gallery
namely, 'the Greeks and Trojans contend
ing for the body of Patroclus." The fig
ures are more than life size and the expires
sion on each countenance, as vel
as the attitude given to eact
character patronized Is truly
fascinating. In many OF hi
best works the figures are grotesque, some
of them literally frightful, and to further
increase this aspect they were arranged by
the eccentric artist to be viewed only
through glass that may or may not pos
sess magnifying power. One of tn csc pic
lures was too horrible to look at. 1t rep
resents mother driven to insanity by
hurg ger. = She is seated on the floor of bel
wretched hovel. In her lap is her infant
partially covered up. In her hand Is the
dripping knife with which she has severed
one of the infants legs which is thrust in
a pot of boiling water heated by the cloth
ing stripped from the babe. the little shoe
has fallen off and lies in plain view. The
expression on the mothers face was de-
monical. "The Young Sorceress" is such
superb piece of flesh coloring that l have
added a Photographic copy to my ever in
creasing collection. l wish l had time to
attempt description Of a score or so OF
the gems in this museum, for nc
man will ever see the originals nor any pic
lures from the hands of the artist unless he
sees them in the museum at Brussels, the
exceptions before mentioned being por-
traits painted for "pot boilers" Weirtz
was poor all his life. He was offered
prices for pictures that would have placed
him In affluent circumstances, but he loved
these creations of his own brain and skill
full hand as a mother loves her children.
When it came to parting with his treas
ures money, though hunger gnawed his
stomach, had no temptation. He lived for
art and was beholden to neither priest nor
king. Rubens lived for art and was the
pet and beneficiary of both. In many re-
spects Wiestz resembled Turner, but in
point of genius and excellence OF produc-
ton was. if am not sadly off my base,
Turner'S superior.
But this is not the only collection Of pic
lures on exhibition at Brussels.
The Palace of Fine Arts contains
almost as many pictures as the National
Gallery in London. l counted about fif-
teen by Rubens others by Teniers, Van
Dyck, Rembrandt, De Crayer, Matsys and
a host OF Others, mostly of the Dutch and
Flemish school We tarried so long